Virgin Atlantic Tries on Google Glass

Recently, Virgin Atlantic decided to test the Google Glass wearable computer to offer its passengers in the Upper Class Lounge at London Heathrow airport a hyper personalized experience.

Google Glass is an optical head-mounted display that can communicate with the Internet via natural language voice commands. The wearable technology is still in the testing phase, but it’s scheduled to be made available to the public sometime this year. For the moment, only doctors and schoolchildren are experimenting with this wearable technology, but the Virgin Atlantic concierge staff will also use it within a six-week experiment.

During the trial period, Upper Class passengers will be greeted by name upon arrival. Once a passenger has been identified with the help of Google Glass, the airline agent will be able to start the check-in process immediately.

The innovative device can also perform services such as translating relevant foreign language travel notices and provide up-to-the-minute information about the passengers’ food and drink preferences, their latest flight, details regarding the weather and events at their destinations and so on.

Virgin Atlantic is working with SITA (the information technology company specializing in the air transport industry) on the pilot project. If the project will prove to be successful, the airline company will potentially roll it out to other airports.

According to Dave Bulman, director of information technology for Virgin Atlantic, the airline company is the “first in the industry to test how Google Glass and other wearable technology can improve the customer experience”.

Virgin Atlantic has a long tradition in putting innovation at the heart of the flying experience and Google Glass testing seems quite a natural step.

Would you like to try such a customized flying experience with the help of Google Glass device?